Quid Pro Quo
by HawaiianCaffeine
Summary: A jailhouse is not normally the best place to meet someone, but it happened. Neither understands their own curiosity, but somehow it keeps them together. But will it be enough? Au/GaaraSakura
1. Jailhouse

**Quid Pro Quo**

_Part 1: Jailhouse_

"You're finally caught."

The man in the jail cell snorted inwardly. Depends on whom you ask. Maybe from _the guard's_ point of view he was caught, but that showed how much they new about him.

The prisoner's façade didn't even twitch as he leaned against the wall and watched the security guard from behind his bars.

"They're going to execute you in half an hour. Think you can bust out by then?"

In fact, he knew he could. He was just waiting for the right moment, but it was always nice to know the time line of his future 'death' and thereby know he had to act soon. This apparently wasn't the brightest bulb in the storehouse.

The security guard leaned in to put his face practically touching the bars, finally showing his face with the not-brightly-lit lanterns that hung on the walls outside of the jails. The guy was young—way to new to be a decent security guard for the likes of him.

Finally deciding to answer, he straightened up from the leaning position and walked casually toward the iron till he was right in front of the young guard.

Opening his mouth to grin wickedly, he replied, "The question isn't _if_ I will do it, but if you will live to see it."

Confused the guy started, "Wha—"

The guard didn't finish his sentence as the prisoner reached through the bars to grab his throat and suffocate him. He used his other free hand to pull the guy flush against the bars to keep him from makes a racket and fighting him off. The struggling ended quickly.

A few minutes later, the prisoner was striding out of his cell and down the walkway. He paused to grab a lantern and turned to continue his escape. He didn't continue.

He thought he had been the only prisoner in this dungeon-like place. Turned out he was wrong. Very wrong. Not that it mattered, but…

The pink-haired girl looked up from her seat on the floor at him. For a minute they just stared at each other. She seemed uncomfortable with the silent situation and cleared her throat.

"You're escaping, aren't you?"

Not really needing to know and not understanding why he felt compelled to ask a question himself, he replied, "What's your purpose?"

* * *

She covered her face with her hands, crying. She ignored the guard that passed up her cell to talk to the person in the one next to her. As a rule, he wasn't suppose to do that, but who cared? Here she was in jail and... _Oh, God._

She cried even more. A part of her said that she deserved to be here, and another part said that she had done what she thought she had too. What she thought was right. Was it right? She was so pathetic crying like this _again_...

She stopped when she heard choking and the practically silent struggling in the cell next to hers. Wiping her eyes, she calmed herself, and stopped her pity party. It was time to grow up again. A few minutes later, a guy–who wasn't the guard–stepped into her view, probably not realizing she was here. He picked up a lantern and turned to leave. Then he noticed her.

They stared at each other, and feeling too awkward for comfort she decided to break the silence. She had to clear her throat after having not spoken for a while and having just got done crying.

"You're escaping, aren't you?"

He seemed confused when he asked in return, "What's your purpose?"

Well, that was a loaded question. She looked up at him, questioningly.

He stared.

"Purpose for being down here—in this cell."

Understanding dawned and she shrugged.

"It's complicated."

He didn't seem satisfied with that.

"Tell me the gist of it."

She stood up, letting the shadows pass over her face in the dark jail. Deciding to really look at him now, she took notice of the dark red hair, and kanji scar on the right side of his forehead. He was much taller than her, although they were probably about the same age—nineteen. He may have been a murderer that was at this moment escaping from prison, but that also didn't stop him from being handsome, so she didn't deny it. He had dark circles around his eyes, too. Probably hadn't slept in a while. She wasn't surprised—even she didn't get much sleep in this prison.

Then she thought about his question. There was a lot of things she could say, but not one of them did she actually want to.

She shifted her feet.

Dodging the question she asked, "What'd you do to the guard?"

He flicked his gaze to the jail right next to hers, before looking back at her.

He flashed a small smile before replying, "Killed him."

He looked like he could. In fact, he looked like he'd done that kind of thing a lot, even for his tall and skinny stature.

His face lost emotion again as he said, "Answer the question."

"What'd _you _do—to get here?"

She already guessed the answer, but she asked anyway.

He seemed displeased that she wasn't doing what he said, but he answered, "Assassination attempt."

He stared at her, obviously waiting for her side of the story since he had answered her questions.

She frowned. She thought about not answering… but it didn't seem like an option that he was allowing, and she wasn't about to test him on that. She also thought about lying… but what else could she say that would make her end up _here_? Not only that, but… well, if there was any person in the world who would not care in the least about what she did… or tried to do, anyway, it would be him.

Still nervous, and feeling ashamed anyway, despite her reasoning to herself, she stepped back into the darker shadow and finally whispered, "I tried to kill my best friend."

* * *

_**Author's Note**__:_

_I have an idea already for the story and the plot, but if you have any ideas, any, just message me or tell me in a review. No idea is dumb, and I love prompts, so just tell me. I won't do limes… so yeah. Romance? Maybe. If I decide that I've lost my noodle and want to try it (I don't have a very high opinion of myself in this regard). But no lemons or limes. Sorry._

_I hope you find this story interesting and review! I even take constructive criticism. No flames, but you know the drill. And I'll be doing POV of both Gaara and Sakura, as you can see. Tell me if you want to type POV before each change. I didn't think it was necessary, but you might want it. Either way, I don't mind.  
_

_**Disclaimer**__: I do not own Naruto, or it's characters. So stop asking. (emo tears)_


	2. Curiosity vs Danger

**Quid Pro Quo**

_Part 2: Curiosity vs. Danger_

"_I tried to kill my best friend."_

He stood there looking at her. He didn't say a word, or move a muscle. Just looked. There had been little that he could think of that would make someone like her end up in this prison, but of all the reasons, this was at the bottom of the list.

In his experience, people weren't much more than what they looked like they were. Of course, that wasn't true all of the time, but as a general rule, it worked pretty well. Pink hair, soft features. Probably easy to laugh, anger, cry, etc… Not an idiot, but too sensitive and loyal enough to kill anybody maliciously, nonetheless kill a best friend.

But she wasn't lying either. –Which made things all the more interesting.

Before she had been uncomfortable in the silence, but it seemed now she was hiding in it as he watched her.

An idea occurred to him, and he wondered if he was losing his mind considering it. Well, losing it even more than usual, since he questioned his sanity frequently.

Breaking eye contact with her, he gave her a once-over, thinking.

He shouldn't because it would just be a waste of time and effort for nothing in the end—but he was curious. And there was only minimal danger in it—not enough to even warrant mention, really. It had been a long time since he had heard a good story. What could it really hurt? Normally when people think that, they are overconfident and quickly learn their lesson for such a crime. In his case, he was just being honest. There wasn't a whole lot that could injure him.

Just when she was actually starting to look uncomfortable again, he turned away from her to set the lantern down and then turned back to grab the iron bars.

She stepped out of the shadows toward him starting, "Wha—"

Stopping her question, he said, "Don't move."

The chakra built up inside him and he allowed a small amount of his sand to quietly work its way up the bars and into the keyhole to turn the mechanisms. The movement wasn't completely silent since the girl seemed to be intently watching his hands, and listening with a confused façade. But then, she couldn't see the sand he was moving on the bars yet. His chakra was low, and while it was growing back fast, it still wasn't fast enough. That was why he hadn't busted out of this place hours ago. He also didn't want to alert any of the other guards about the escape.

So he had to go slow, easy, and use up the least amount of chakra possible. Thus the reason for not tearing down brick-by-brick their idiotic, paper-thin walls and slaughtering every pathetic, useless wannabe—

He gritted his teeth, trying to hold back the onslaught of anger. The lock clicked and a gasped was produced from the other side of the cell, bringing him back to his senses.

The pink-haired girl's gaze had not snapped to the open lock, still not knowing what was going on. He unlatched his hands from the bars with a sigh. When he looked up at her, she looked at him with as if she was seeing him in a new light. Wide-eyed and staring, she clearly new that there was something different about him that she hadn't grasped yet. It was the same look that everyone gave him. One that said there was something weird or wrong with him. He didn't question her there since there _was_ something weird _and_ wrong about him.

He grabbed the lock off of its hook and threw it on the floor and swung the door open.

A second of staring was followed by him asking, "Are you going to come or stare?"

She still didn't understand.

"What did you—why would you—?"

He gave a thin smile as he said, "Your story is something I think I'd like to hear—and there might be something you can do to help me."

Obviously, she didn't get it, but this snapped her to her senses and had her slowly walking toward the exit of the cell.

"There's something I still don't understand—that guard doesn't have a key. Nobody does except for the higher ups—and that includes all of three people. How did you get out?"

She was going excruciatingly slow toward him. She was still nervous and didn't completely trust him. That just showed she wasn't a complete idiot. He wouldn't trust himself either.

"Aren't you going to answer me?" she asked as she reached the threshold.

He clearly ignored her while crossing his arms and stubbornly keeping quiet.

She huffed, and moved faster because of frustration that ended up finishing that last step up to the doorway directly in front of him.

Looking at him in the eyes, she asked, "Could you at least tell me your name?"

He unfolded his arms and finally answered, "Gaara."

Surprised that she finally got an answer, she half smiled and started, "Thank you. I'm—"

She was cut off when he knocked her out.

Sighing, he picked her up bridal-style and started his way out.

* * *

Oh, jeez, why did it _hurt_?

Groaning, she rolled over and pushed her short bubble-gum pink hair out of her face. _What happened?_

She clutched her head in pain. Why did she have a splitting headache again?

She sent out a searching hand and drew her eyebrows together in confusion. This wasn't the dirt floor of her jail cell. It was… softer, but still uncomfortable.

She snapped up from her sleeping position when she remembered all that had happened. In a gasp as she opened her eyes she said, "Gaara!"

Confused at the setting, she looked down to see she was sitting on grass. Looking up she realized she was in a forest.

There was a harsh hiss from behind.

"What!"

She twisted around to see him putting down the last few logs for a fire. The sun was already beginning to set. He brushed off his hands and turned to glare at her.

"Well? What is it you want!"

She flinched at the hostility. She had no idea why he was snapping at her, but it made her want to find the biggest rock possible to hide under. Truthfully, she had only said his name out of muscle memory, but she didn't really want to say that to him. With the way he was acting, it didn't seem like a good enough excuse.

She fumbled for something to say as he continued to glare at her. He wasn't making this easy for her, was he?!

Finally she came up with, "—Why did you do that—knock me out?"

He stared at her silently asking if she really expected him to explain himself.

Yes, yes she did.

He thought about just ignoring her, but if he wanted her to share her story and cooperate with him with little to no resistance, he would have to concede to her questions. Well, occasionally anyway. Her willing cooperation wasn't _that_ necessary… but it wouldn't hurt.

She stared at him expectantly as he turned his back to her and started the fire.

"We had to leave quietly and efficiently. You obviously don't have the skills to do either. And I couldn't count on you not making noise when you saw the dead body. In addition to _that_, you were moving too slow. Any other questions?"

Well, she had tons of questions in fact, but she had a feeling she wouldn't be getting answers to them any time soon. So she shook her head and turned around to scan the area.

Trees. That was all she could see. And dirt. And the grass she was sitting on. She could have been half way to the Wind Valley for all she knew. Heck, she could be in her own backyard for all she knew. Of course, that was highly unlikely—but well, you get the picture.

_Middle of nowhere._

Crap.

She sighed as she turned her butt around to watch Gaara as he set a few more extra logs a few feet away from the fire to keep it going as it died later on. She drew up her legs as she continued to watch him. It wasn't like she had anything better to do and she needed to think. There was a lot to think about…

"I don't like being stared at."

She blinked and broke out of reverie.

"I—I wasn't—I mean, I was thinking. Sorry."

He dusted off his hands again and sat down facing the fire.

"I didn't ask for your excuse." He replied shortly.

She looked down frowning before standing up, walking over to the fire and plopping herself on the opposite side of Gaara in front of the fire.

She shifted uncomfortably in the silence once again. The sky grew dimmer.

He continued to stare at the fire, completely ignoring her.

She cleared her throat.

Gaara looked up to glare at her.

Gruffly he asked, "Yes?"

Half faking a cough at his clear annoyance, she replied, "My—ah—name's Sakura."

He cleared an annoyance in his throat, "And?"

Sakura moved closer to the fire to combat the goosebumps. There was something weird underneath his voice. Something _angry_. What was worse was she had no idea _why_. Although he always seemed to have that undertone, even when he was saying things emotionlessly. It just wasn't _normal_.

She looked up at him through the fire, "Don't you want to know?"

"Wouldn't I have asked?" He snapped backed coldly.

She snuggled lower and closer to herself and stayed quiet for a few moments.

He thought he would finally get some peace and quiet when he heard her quietly ask, "How come you helped me?"

He sighed at her inability to just be quiet, but resigned himself to the fact that he was not alone like he normally was and almost wished he were still. But there something he wanted.

"I thought I already answered this question."

"No, not really."

He snapped his head up to glare at her for replying against him, but she wasn't looking at him anymore, she was focused down at the heart of the fire.

"You said you wanted to hear my story, but I don't know why you even care, and you said that I could help you, but how in the world could I help you and why would you even want my help?"

He continued to glare at her, but said nothing as she looked up at him.

"Answers resolve questions, and anything you say to me just makes more of them. And not only that, but I have no clue who you are. If all you give me are questions, what can you expect from me but to be full of them?"

For a few minutes she continued to stare at him as he glared at her. He didn't make a move against her though. Mainly, it was because of the fact she was logical about it. He could crush her within an inch of her life—but what she was saying was understandable, logical, and clear. It wasn't meant to offend him… it just was; it was a state of fact. And he could respect that. Well, he could while he was coherent, in control, and logically thinking for himself at the moment. Had she been more offensive and had he not been thinking clearly, it's a toss-up on what he would have done.

But seeing the situation as it is, he stayed silent for a minute before replying, "Then you are going to be disappointed a lot."

Sakura drew her brows together in confusion as she looked up at him again, surprised he responded at all to her.

"I do not answer many questions very often because most of the questions are unnecessary to me, even if they seem necessary to _you_. Anything I do, I do for myself. Even if it's a whim or a goal, it doesn't matter. I do what I want."

Gaara stood up to throw another log on the fire. Sakura continued to watch him from her seat.

"I want to hear your story. Nothing more or less. And the job I have for you won't be explained until the moment I want to explain it."

The fire roared up as the new log was applied and Gaara sat back down where he previously sat.

Sakura shifted.

"And when will that be?"

He looked up at her again, this time with that same wide, creepy grin that he gave her at the jail.

"That," he started while leaning forward, "is a good question."

And he left it at that, grin still in place.

Frowning she replied, "Aren't you going to answer any questions?"

His grin fell back into its normal emotionless mask, now staring at her with dead eyes.

Scrunching her brows together she continued, "But if you want me to answer your questions, shouldn't you answer some of mine?"

Standing up, Gaara looked over the fire menacingly to study her.

Flashing his teeth, he started, "And is that," Gaara took a step around the fire in front of her, "a threat?"

Startled, Sakura shrank and replied, "Um—it wasn't supposed to be—I was just saying—you know, it would make sense since we're both here trying to cooperate?"

Gaara closed his eyes and relaxed his tense muscles. Control. He had to be in control. _She's too weak to be a threat._ A harsh voice in the back of his mind said that no one was too weak to be a threat, but he pushed it away. Besides, he hadn't heard her story yet! He wanted to hear it!

He took a deep breath in, opened his eyes, and answered finally, "When we reach our destination—that's when I'll tell you."

Sakura perked up at this. It wasn't the answer she wanted, but, well, it was something. And he wasn't going to attack her or anything. That was a definite plus.

After a minute of looking at her, he turned around to sit back down in his previous spot.

She was like an open book that even the dumbest could read. Emotions and thoughts passed through her face clearer than as if she'd spoken it out loud. Right then, he could see her happiness at him answering one stupid question and he could then see more questions crop up inside her mind faster than he thought was possible.

Before she could open her mouth, a look from him stopped any idea of following through with asking any questions.

Disappointed, her gaze fell back to the fire to contemplate some more.

In the next split second, she stood up so quickly that he was put on a defensive edge.

"Gaara?"

He watched her beneath dark deep-set eyes.

She looked innocently down at him asking, "I know you're tired of questions… but is there a creek, or anyplace I can go to, to wash off?"

He paused a second before pointing to the right and answering, "Hot spring. Don't fall asleep because I won't save you from drowning or over-heating. Enjoy it because you won't be getting a nice bath every night."

She frowned at the tone and his gruff voice. It was like every time he spoke had been the first time in a long time and couldn't help but say it roughly. Not to mention that weird angry undertone he always possessed underneath it all.

Sakura finally nodded. She looked around to see if she would need anything before realizing that she didn't _have_ anything and so set off on her journey for a little comfort and cleanness in the sea of confusion she was in.

Sighing, she started her short trek.

* * *

"Ahhh…"

Sakura closed her eyes in a sigh as she slipped into the hot spring. She hadn't ever been in one before, but after this, she was an easy convert to it. Of course, she knew she shouldn't get used to this since she would probably never have it again, but she pushed that reasonable side of her to the very back of her mind and just enjoyed the warmth and steam. It stank _terribly_, but she could handle that as long she was getting clean and _warm_.

This was also good for thinking. When you're emotional, tired, uncomfortable, and around other people, you just can't concentrate. And it was essential to concentrate right now. Her whole life could be on the line if she made the wrong move.

What to do, where to go, who to trust…

Sakura's eyes snapped open as she heard a soft splash across from her.

"I really wish you would be more quiet while you think."

Sakura went into shock.

"Ah!" she yelled, jumping in surprise and then falling back with a splash into the hot springs.

He watched her with dead eyes, already sitting in the water.

Wide-eyed, she started to stand, but realized what _that_ revealed, and plopped back into the water, desperately trying to hide at least the bare essentials. I mean, she couldn't very well have gone into the water with her only set of clothes _on_ could she?!

"What are you doing?!" she said shrilly.

He looked emotionlessly across the water at her.

"Taking a bath." He said bluntly with that 'duh' tone.

She scanned the water seemingly searching for an answer, disbelief coloring her face.

"B—but—_I'm_ here! You can't—I mean—ah—"

He cut her off, "There is only one hot spring. This is it, and I am unclean too. What did you expect? Uncleanliness leads to disease and death. I attempt a wash whenever possible and I will not waste time just wash later on when _you_ feel like it."

She continued to look at him with the 'dear in the headlights' look. He stared unwaveringly back.

"Stop your idiocy. Your body is the same as any other woman that has ever existed. Just relax."

He crossed his arms stubbornly, asking her to try to retaliate against his logic.

She didn't. Instead she sighed heavily while covering her face with a hand in exhaustion and disbelief. Of course she was disbelieving that this was happening, but that didn't change the fact that _he was right_. What his hurry was, she had no idea, but logically this was the most efficient and practical way to do things. It didn't make things any easier for her, but she would deal with that.

She still didn't like it, but it helped that he wasn't some pervy weird guy. Well, he was weird, but he wasn't pervy. That was probably an oxymoron since he was a _guy _and they all are perverted as a rule, but at least he wasn't making a big deal out of it, which helped a lot. If he didn't care, then why should she? For all she knew, he could be gay! Well, he didn't really seem the type to swing that way, but if it made her feel better, then she would go with it until this terrible ordeal was over with and reality hit her once more.

Scowling but defeated, she removed her hand from her face to look across at him. He was still staring.

She crossed her arms (a discreet way to hide her cleavage) and replied, "You know, for a guy who doesn't like to be stared at, you do it a lot."

He grunted before answering, "That is different. What I do isn't a concern to you, so long as you don't annoy me too much."

Sakura stood up straighter in protest, "But how is that fair?"

At this, Gaara seemed to decide to ignore her by slouching into the water and looking up at the trees behind her.

She thought he was going to ignore her question again till she heard him say, "Life isn't fair."

Turning to him, Sakura saw that he was still looking off into the trees. Her curiosity was spiked now, but she had no idea what to say, or even what to ask. So she stayed quiet.

Sighing at the unfairness of it all, she also slouched further into the hot water, blowing bubbles into it. This was so _wrong_. They were two _strangers_ naked in a—

Sakura's eyes popped open before snapping them shut and then covered her eyes with her hand. I mean, it hadn't even occurred to her—_he didn't have any clothes on either. _There had be some unwritten rule against something like this!

Sakura figured she'd been in the water for long enough (seven minutes), and turned around abruptly and jumped out of the hot spring.

"What," Gaara said looking at her again, "are you doing?"

With her cheeks dusted red, she kept her eyes very clearly away from him as she pulled her clothes off of the branch.

"I," Sakura started as she left her under clothes on the ground and quickly dressed in her green button-down collared shirt and knee-length black skirt, "am getting dressed."

She cradled her underwear and bra as she stood up straight and turned toward Gaara.

"Give me your underwear."

If Gaara had been another person, or even just had an eyebrow, he might have raised it at her request. Instead, being who he was, he just stared.

Sakura sighed as she replied to the unasked question, "I'm going to wash our under clothes while we can. It would take too long for our regular clothes, but the underwear should dry fast enough by morning…I mean, we don't have soap, but at least I can get the dirt out while you finish your bath… yes?"

He silently stared before getting up and reaching outside the water and grabbing his underwear and walking through the water to hand it to her.

Refusing to let her eyes wonder, she snatched the cloth and moved to another corner of the spring. Gaara went back to his previous seat and relaxed, closing his eyes.

Smiling now, happy to finally not be constantly stared at, Sakura quickly dunked the clothes, got the worst of the dirt and jail-damp smell out, and then ringed out as much water as she could.

Sighing at a job well done, Sakura said, "Well, I'm done. I'm going to go back to the camp and hang these up."

Gaara opened his eyes and gave a look that said 'so?'

She smiled weakly.

"Just thought you'd like to know," Sakura moved nervously, "Well, see you there then," and she turned and walked away awkwardly.

Gaara closed his eyes again, not seeming to care what weird women issues she was having.

* * *

Sakura had to get back to her village. She hadn't told Gaara, but it was essential that she get back to her home that had been holding her prisoner.

Sitting on the ground, Sakura sighed heavily. She felt like the weight of the world was on her shoulders. Felt like it was _cracking down_ on them, actually.

Sakura had planned on skipping out on Gaara as soon as they escaped out of jail, but with this unexpected turn, she was lost. She still knew what she had to do—to make it back to her village and right a wrong, but now there was a question on how to go about it. Well, there really was always a question on how to go about it—just the answer now became more complicated.

Hanging up the under clothes on a branch near the fire, Sakura sighed heavily again before going back to sit on her nice little patch of grass that would serve as her bed again.

One of the problems was that she'd never even been _out of her own village_ before. Even if she knew where she was, it wouldn't do her much good. And Gaara—well, he expected her to just poor her guts out to him and it just wasn't that easy. Not for her, not yet. Sakura just hadn't come to terms with it yet and he was asking, well no, not asking, demanding, her life story. She just wasn't ready.

And then there was this 'help' he wanted. What kind of help could she give him anyway? Sakura was confused as to what her position was in their relationship—if that's what you could call it. They barely knew each other. He was a _professional killer_. Did he really expect her help, if she even could? Did she have a choice? Did she go from one jail to another?

She blinked.

Seeing a flash to her left, Sakura turned her head.

"What?"

In the next second, she was slammed down into dirt.

Letting out a strangled gasp, her wide eyes tried to get a look at her attacker, but with him behind her, she couldn't do anything but try to pull away. He was a big muscle guy so she knew she wasn't going to win this fight.

He wrapped his arm around her throat and Sakura realized with a shock that she was going suffocate. _She was going to die_. This made her freak out and fight harder than she had before, trying to pry away the arm that held her throat—but it was too late. She couldn't even scream, or call for help from Gaara.

Choking and flailing, she was feeling more desperate, alarms going off in her head, but her limbs were feeling tingly all over and yet getting more and more heavy. Just when her head and eyes were getting hazy, Sakura found herself on all fours choking air into her lungs, pink hair falling over her eyes and sticking to her face.

She heard noises in the background, but all that mattered at the moment was _breathing_. After a second of hacking, she realized that she had to slow down and breathe slowly because she wasn't getting any good air in, and it was making her desperate and dizzy again.

Letting out a shaky breath, Sakura took a good long breath in. She repeated the process more strongly a few more times before she felt more calm and more herself. Eventually she had the presence of mind to remember her attacker and her savior.

Sakura flipped around to see _a gust of sand_ holding her attacker down against the ground. And it was weird, but Gaara was standing over him asking him questions—as if that was normal!

And then the attacker tried to get back up. She took a step back when the sand constricted around his throat. A second later, he was dead.

And there was Gaara, standing over him, with his hand closed in a fist, as if he had done it with his own hand.

Sakura felt sick and stumbled sitting down on the ground, looking at him wide-eyed.

After a minute, he turned toward her silently. She continued staring. He let her.

She swallowed air to clear her throat and asked breathlessly, "What—what are you?"

Gaara grinned un-humorously and replied roughly, "You _really_ don't want to know."

For the second time, Sakura's eyes went to his scar on his forehead. She lowered her eyes to the dead body.

"What are you going to do with…"

Turning to the dead attacker, Gaara answered, "Hide him far enough away so we don't have to smell it. They'll find him no matter where I put him, but we have to stay here the night for some rest. I have to get my strength back."

Drawing up her legs, Sakura closed her eyes, taking slow, deep breaths. She didn't want to think about anything—she just wanted to sit there and go blank. A few moments went by, but she knew she couldn't stay like that, so in one more deep breath, Sakura gathered herself together and opened her eyes.

The body was gone, and Gaara was sitting against a tree with his eyes closed. Sakura straightened herself out and stood up to walk over to her patch of grass to sleep on. She wasn't sure if she could sleep, but it was worth a shot. Sleep was necessary, especially right now.

Silently, she laid down on her side, using her arm as a pillow, facing Gaara. His eyes remained closed, but she wasn't so sure that he was really asleep.

Sakura cleared her throat, "Was that—was it—I mean, you had to—?"

He didn't open his eyes, but he cut her off replying, "I don't like explaining why I do what I do, especially when my explanations don't always fit in a nice neat box like the rest of the world would like,"

She frowned, looking down. She looked back up when he continued, "But yes, it was necessary. If I had let him live, he would have continued trying to kill us and I don't have my full strength back to fight him off a second time. And even if he were unable to kill us, he would have gone back and told them where we are and where we are going which would allow them to kill us later. Judge me as you like, but I won't feel bad about it."

Whether he was right or not, Sakura kept her thoughts to herself. She figured he was probably right, or at least doing what he thought was right, but that didn't make it any easier for her to think about. But at least he was answering her question, which seemed very important.

Knowing that she was pressing her luck, she said calmly still looking at him, "I know you said I wouldn't want to know but… what was that. –What are you?"

Sakura already guessed what he was going to do, so it wasn't a surprise when he stared at her for a minute. The only difference with this look was its depth. Normally his staring was to ignore her question, ask a silent question sarcastically, or related to him thinking—_this _look was actually looking at her, as if to see if she was being sincere, or could handle the answer. _He was really looking at her. _And Sakura quietly matched his look, waiting for the verdict.

"I have a demon inside of me,"

Sakura blinked, but said nothing. What _could_ she say, anyway?

"Others don't believe me or just don't understand it. Or just don't care. Or all three, but in the end, it doesn't matter."

Gaara cleared his throat. Sakura switched positions from lying down, to sitting Indian style.

He continued, "Never does. He is malicious, callous, and evil. You don't try to _negotiate_ with that." Gaara sneered saying the word _negotiate_, showing his clear dislike of its use.

Her brows scrunched together again before he continued his explanation again to stop any more questions.

"He controls sand and so allows _me_ to control it as well."

Mumbling to herself, Sakura said, "_So that's the undertone…_"

"What?" Gaara said sharply.

Wide-eyed, she held up her hands and replied acutely, "Nothing! It's nothing! Ah—does that mean that he can…"

Stiffly he answered, "No, he can't come out unless I lose control—and I do _not_ lose control."

She thought he was done, but instead Gaara turned his face to look at her and asked, "Why is your hair pink?"

Taken aback, Sakura, with her brows scrunched together (apparently a habit of hers whenever thinking about a question) asked, "What?"

"I believe that is a reasonable question. I have been answering all of yours, despite when I told you that I wouldn't answer them. Even if they are not all helpful answers, I have been replying. Now I want to hear from you."

Sakura raised her eyebrows, but replied, "I'm a genetic freak."

Clearly he didn't find that humorous as he stared at her once more.

Coughing, she explained, "Actually, a mutant, to be more specific. Nobody in my family's had it, except me. Far as anyone can tell, when I was conceived, something must have mutated and gave me pink hair. Just like the purple eye thing with that famous girl in the Light Camp. I mean, look at your eyes—not many people can have that."

In fact, his eyes _were_ really odd. An almost clear blue-green with no pupil.

Sakura was brought out of an unnoticed reverie when Gaara spoke up again and asked, "Who put you in jail? Somebody you knew?"

Feeling the sensitivity of the topic coming, but only indirectly, she replied, "Actually—it was the ruler. The _king_, if you can believe it." There was a touch of bitterness in that last sentence. Gaara didn't miss it.

More intently now, Gaara watched her and said, "Was your friend a close one?

Sighing in resignation she replied quietly, "Yes. Best friends, remember?"

"Boy or girl?"

Sakura swallowed and answered, "Boy."

After hearing her answer, Gaara sat back and seemed to contemplate that.

Trying to distract him as she started to feel more and more uncomfortable, "Where are you from?"

He still wanted to hear the whole story, but it could wait. At first, when he decided to break her out of jail with him, he mainly did it for the story. The help she could provide was a bonus, but one he wasn't really thinking about. He figured that he'd end up ditching her or getting rid of her after hearing the story—but now he didn't see any reason _not_ to have the extra help. It would make his job much simpler when they reached town. And in that case, well, he could slowly get the story from her. He had the time now and he was going to be with her anyway. Besides, she didn't look like she was in a state of mind to tell the whole story and it would be helpful not to have to deal with a basket case woman.

So, he would get it from her little by little and allow her to get off track. I mean, it wasn't like he couldn't just get rid of her after he heard her story and after she helped him with his job.

"The desert. You would think the sand would give you a hint."

Sakura blushed

"Ah—Why did you come to the Leaf Woods, to my town."

Gaara shrugged.

"I was hired for a job there."

Biting her lip in thought, she asked, "Is that how you ended up in jail?"

He snorted.

"I decided that it wasn't worth my time or my employee's money. _That's_ why I was in jail."

Gaara saw her brows draw together and sighed.

"He was a man in power. Didn't like it very much when I refused him. I don't often get caught for something I did. I'm good at what I do—it's normally what I _didn't_ do that I end up in jail for. I can appreciate the irony, I suppose, but apparently the man who hired me, underestimated my skills, especially those for _escape_." Gaara flashed a grin at the word _escape_ before letting his expression fall back into its normal state.

Sakura was silent for a minute, seeming to think hard about what he said. Gaara watched her as she thought. He didn't know what there was to really _think_ about. Nothing complicated about it, but she continued to think. One oddity was that he couldn't figure out what she was thinking about. She was normally an easy read, without her even realizing it, he assumed. But she seemed to be trying to figure out something he didn't know about her. Did it have to with her story?

Eventually her face cleared, seeming to resign to her indecision. Closing his eyes, he sat back against the tree again. Opening her eyes and seeing him "asleep", Sakura sighed. She was so _tired_ of everything.

She slowly laid down on her favorite patch of grass, and used her arm as a pillow again. If she didn't think she could sleep before, she knew she could now as her eyelids got heavier and fog clouded her brain.

Before she surrendered all power to sleep, Sakura yawned and said quietly, "Thanks for saving me Gaara."

She smiled when she saw him cross his arms, with his eyes still closed and sitting against the tree.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**_

_Wow. It took me THIS long just to type out this short chapter? And, man, what was that terrible cliché at the end of it? Gah…_

_Well, yeah. It did take me a while. And I'm sorry, too. But I was on vacation, AND I'm a lazy bum. With not a whole lot of ideas… well, actually, I have a good few that'll last me several chapters, but it took me a long time to catch them out of the sky. If you know what I mean, anyway._

_I take constructive criticism. Not flames, but you know the drill. If you have suggestions--please say them! I hate not knowing... And if you have any ideas, don't hesitate to share! Of course, it has to co-inside with my plans for the story that you don't know what are, but its okay. Just suggest it and I'll tell you if I can make it happen._

_I also accept ideas for other one-shot stories. If you look on my list on my page, you can see which pairings I prefer. :D_

_I hope you guys like this chapter. I know I don't have a whole lot going on, but I plan for things to happen in future chapters, if you can stick with me. I REALLY hope I didn't disappoint anyone with this second chapter… the first chapter is always the easiest for me to write because I already have it all planned out in my head and actually, it was that scene of them in jail that popped in my head that made me create an entire story around it. How about that. But I do have a plot! Yay me! Just won't all happen at once.  
_

_The setting is a kind of AU, set more in an older time, but not exactly. I hope you eventually get the feel of it as you read—it's a kind of mixed time in this other universe thingy._

_Yeah._

_**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything, especially Naruto and it's characters._

_Rock on and peace out_


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